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Kingdom Come
Aarti V Raman
Krivi lyer is an embittered former spy and bomb defusal expert with only one regret. That he couldn't catch The Woodpecker, a dangerous, mentally unstable bomber who ended his partner's family.He has a second chance to go after his arch enemy with the arrival of Ziya Maarten, the manager of 'Goonj Business Enterprises' in Srinagar, Kashmir, who is alleged to be The Woodpecker's sister. Except Ziya is a beautiful distraction and not a terrorist's sister. When a tragedy in London tears Ziya's life apart, she can only rely on Krivi to give her the absolution and vengeance she needs to move on. Between training to be an anti-terrorist squad member and finding The Woodpecker, Ziya uncovers the secrets of Krivi's tormented past. But will two tortured souls find the courage to love? Set against the serene beauty of Kashmir, Ladakh and Tibet, Kingdom Come is a gripping story of death and loss, vengeance and retribution, love and life.
About the Author (#ulink_27e3ce72-b149-5903-a9ab-8ab2b0a3e8eb)
AARTI V RAMAN lives in Mumbai, India and has a degree in mass media from Mumbai University. She has always dreamed of being either a romance writer or a lawyer and decided to pursue a writing career from a very early stage.
Aarti has already published a romantic thriller under the name Aarti V and has more works coming out in 2014. Her favorite dream of writing for Harlequin Mills and Boon has finally come true and she hopes to continue this fantastic relationship with many more love stories and fascinating characters.
Aarti loves to watch movies, TV series and read other romances and travel to different places in order to find a new hero and a new story.
Kingdom Come
Aarti V. Raman
This book is dedicated to
Mom, my own true North
The Big Guy in the Sky
Navneet Bhaiya, because he took us all along to meet the Big Guy. (winks)
Yashesh and Nams. For me, from now on, December will always be yours, guys. Happy Wedding Month, my beautiful, wacky couple. I love you both so much! And Santosh and Kinjal, Gauri and Viraj, whose weddings I couldn’t attend because I am busy with Kingdom Come. I hope this makes up for my absence, guys.
Akshay Kumar, Kit Bale and Edgar Ramirez, all of whom have helped me to mold Krivi’s head and heart and eyes. No, but seriously. Thanks.
Ass Back Home by Gym Class Heroes feat. Neon Hitch. Your song looped, looped my book. Thank you.
And Abby. For the thing in the night. Again.
For all the brave soldiers, known and unknown who defend this fair world against the enemy, both without and within. And for all the women who are strong enough to stand by their sides and give them their hearts.
Four special people need to be simultaneously thanked and dedicated to, so am picking the dedication for them. Pippa Roscoe, Assistant Editor at Harlequin UK, who stuck by me for two long years and didn’t once tell me I sucked at writing Harlequin Romance. And, I finally don’t, Pippa. Amrita Chowdhury, Country Head of Harlequin India, who took a chance on a total unknown because she really believed in my voice. Varsha Naik, yes, you chop my book. But I like the way you do it. Live long and chop more. And lastly, Deepika Singh, Harlequin India marketing director, who followed up with one desperate woman’s desire to be published by the greatest romance publishing house in the world.
You guys have rocked my world.
Thank you (#ulink_75022293-4ec3-5e74-9824-ece94b74ccf7)
Akshay Kumar, for providing so much inspiration that I just had to write you down. My style.
Edgar Ramirez, for being the intensity I was looking for.
For my mum, dad and lovable, zany family who decided what the heck, let’s go to Kashmir, anyway. I would never have been able to figure out where to set Kingdom Come, if it weren’t for you guys. Thanks a ton.
DCP Randip Dutta of the CRPF and his lovely wife, who were kind enough to give me a glimpse of the hard life of a soldier and the woman who stands by him. Thank you for that, and for the Dal Lake boat ride through cold, driving rain. I can never forget that.
Jaysh. Honey, you are the rock, upon which I stood while writing this one.
Abbas, for being generous and amazing enough to be my OCD. I couldn’t have done this without you. I seriously wouldn’t have.
My entire iPod playlist, every single song was chosen with a very specific purpose.
Dhee, Nams, Suki, Sonu, Pra, VJ, Amitava, Yashesh, Karths, Pooj, Jaysh, Abby, Chitta, Chitti, Bharti Chits, Mom and Dad who didn’t blink an eyelash while encouraging me to aim for the stars. Who didn’t think me less than capable of something like this.
Max, for always being the one that I love.
“How do you kill a man who has no Achilles heel? You cut off his foot.”
—Tom Jones.
Table of Contents
Cover (#u16514541-79bd-5cf4-84ab-f12462d5da62)
About the Author (#u8b157ae8-f427-5787-809a-023df0f8e93f)
Title Page (#uc7926750-c60a-5c83-abc8-7669db1df4bf)
Dedication (#u35e268cb-50b4-5087-9344-96fa889ed728)
Thank you (#ubd3a210f-7b1d-5bc5-9127-41e68236b370)
Epigraph (#ue186de90-7b2f-5bbe-8ce5-38f4224da55d)
prologue (#uaab24219-b882-5760-b72a-f2c7c5817b36)
STEP ONE: IDENTIFICATION (#u3b532392-ce01-5e00-b51a-fd42ed4bece8)
one (#ub7eb23ec-f3ed-5d0e-985d-ed721f8fe01b)
two (#uef3011ef-cf42-5ef0-a20b-7b9a8c59bd34)
three (#uc6d9853f-6174-52ba-9763-e09d1ab3fef2)
four (#uc7772d37-217b-5558-b5d6-854289f8492f)
five (#litres_trial_promo)
six (#litres_trial_promo)
seven (#litres_trial_promo)
STEP TWO: IDENTIFICATION (#litres_trial_promo)
eight (#litres_trial_promo)
nine (#litres_trial_promo)
ten (#litres_trial_promo)
eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
STEP THREE: DISARMAMENT (#litres_trial_promo)
seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
twenty-one (#litres_trial_promo)
twenty-two (#litres_trial_promo)
twenty-three (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE
epilogue
Endpages (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
prologue (#ulink_d1354838-93a7-523f-af3d-0c2b845820a2)
London
Midnight
January 30, 2008
He had to get out.
Krivi Iyer figured that as long as he had breath, bone, blood left he had to try and get out. That as long as he could still think, still plan, he should get out. He should get out before he snapped. And did something.
Unforgivable.
He ran rhythmically, his feet pounding the pavement. The rivers of sweat running down his back, soaking his body, already drying in the cold night air. He ran on, dreamlessly. Endlessly. There were no thoughts here. No need for thinking. No need for wondering. For what ifs. He didn’t have to be anything here. Not even himself: Krivi Iyer. Krivi didn’t want to be himself ever again.
His Nikes were well-worn, with the tread marks of a long time of usage. His grandmother would have called them scuffed and ruined. His socks were somewhere between the shade of white and pristine white that he tried to aim for when he remembered to do his laundry. The music playing on his mp3 player was pulse-pounding rock. The more noise filled his head, the less his head hurt.
It had been six months now. Six months to the day. And there were no words, no actions, nothing that meant anything to him anymore. They had told him, the price he had to pay for doing what he did: for doing it so well. No one knew, more than him, that what he did always had consequences.
He’d told this countless times to new recruits, to freshers who were cocky when they entered, with a heartless smile and dreams of glory and courage. They didn’t know what price they had to pay for all of it. For the glory, the courage and the dreams.
He dreamed of them sometimes.
The fallen. The ones who had gone away to a deep, dark, dreamless place. He didn’t believe in either heaven or hell. Sometimes he doubted if life or death held meaning for him. But he did believe, absolutely, in right and wrong. In truth. In justice. And in freedom. He believed in choice. He believed that we all got exactly what we wanted, because we chose it. Knowingly, unknowingly.
But Gemma hadn’t chosen anything.
Gemma had no need to pay for anything. Gemma had been bright and cheerful and happy. She’d brought light into his world when he didn’t think he could see anything except black. She’d made him see himself. She’d made him laugh at himself. Gemma had been everything to him. She’d been light and laughter. Sunshine and life. She’d made him see exactly what was missing in his life. What he’d never thought about. Missing her would kill him, he thought while mechanically streaking past the benches at Notting Hill Public Park.
Gemma would laugh no more.
His fear, his anger increased with every step. The dreams that he avoided when he ran, came back to haunt him virulently. And he dropped down on his knees in the middle of the pavement. The concrete grit digging into his skin, making little pores and sticking to his sweaty skin. Rock poured out of ears that should have bled at the appalling noise level. His shoulders were shaking at the abrupt loss of motion.
His hands were shaking too, when he pulled his cell phone out of his shorts pocket and looked uncomprehendingly at the terse text message. His mind was caught up in the past. It was still trapped in a moment where flash and fire and earth exploded. Where worlds stopped and worlds ended. It was caught in a frame of time when a bomb went off in a car and killed not one, not two, but four lives.
Krivi didn’t know how he was going to live with any of it. The ghosts. The fear. The guilt. The anger. The fear of anger. The fear of memories. Everything hurt right now. Even looking at a cell phone display. Sweat was pouring off his face so he could barely read the message.
Application accepted. Briefing in two days. Report to headquarters for further instructions.
A part of his mind that wasn’t wrapped in the hard kernel of grief, understood the words. Knew what to make of them. He hated that part of his mind. The part of his mind that was relief. That rejoiced at one word.
Escape.
Nearly four years later …
On the other side of the world, a man was watching the person who was torturing him play five finger fillet.
The game was simple.
You placed your palm on a flat surface, spread your fingers wide and then started moving the knife point in the spaces between the fingers. Slow, slow, fast, faster and then so fast your movements were an indistinct blur. And you did it without taking your eyes off your opponent.
The man, Raoul, watched the knife flash in a staccato burst that was a silver dizzy motion. Tut, tut, tut, tut, tut. The point flashed back and forth, back and forth until he felt physically sick.
Sick.
He wanted to throw up, but there was nothing inside of him to throw up. He looked at his side of the table, which was a disgusting mass of sick, saliva and blood. Raoul felt more bile rise up in his throat as he saw the mess.
“If you vomit again, I will make you eat it, Raoul,” his torturer said in a perfectly pleasant voice.
Raoul’s chest heaved as he tried to settle his nausea and escape out of the bonds he was tied in. He was only successful with the first.
